


One of the Few Things

by BRobeast



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-08-08 11:44:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16428752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BRobeast/pseuds/BRobeast
Summary: Matthew Holt is still trying to get the hang of this, but with two sons and an ex-wife in the mix it’s harder than he anticipated. Things get even more complicated after her runs into a not-so-familiar face at the grocery store.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [One Plus One](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13006083) by [Luddleston](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luddleston/pseuds/Luddleston). 



> This was inspired by Luddleston’s dad series “One Plus One” which I am unbelievably weak for. Thank you for that blessing. :,)
> 
> -also I have idea what the Rebel alien we see with Matt’s name is? So, I improvised. Lol!-

“But I wanna play slime rancher!”

“No, buddy. You’ve got school in a couple minutes. You. Need. To. Eat.”

“I CAN EAT AND PLAY SLIME RANCHER!”

“Uh, no, dude? You can either watch Mechanicals and eat breakfast- or I turn off the tv.”

Matthew Holt never could have imagined he would find himself locked in a heated debate with a six year old over the logistics of eating and playing video games at the same time, but here he was. 

Life was crazy like that. 

And sure, that was a pretty cliche thing to say. And sure, a younger version of Matthew Holt would have laughed and rolled his eyes because he had everything planned out and that’s how it was going to go. But the reality was that his life had been crazy and as idealistic as teenage Matthew Holt might have been- twenty nine year old Matthew Holt has learned to sit down, shut up, and just try to survive the ride. 

That sounded...super depressing...but it wasn’t! That was a promise!

It was actually sort of...freeing, y’know?

Perfection had always been something he’d grasped on to- something he felt like he needed to attain. It was surprising to people when they realized he was a hopeless perfectionist beneath the goofball attitude, but it had gotten a little hard to ignore once Max and Cody were born. 

Being married had been weird enough, but for the most part it had just been like having a built in best friend. He and Enna had similar interests and she’d never said no to one of his impromptu “adventures.” Those usually resulted in them sleeping in the dunes when they’d wandered too far down the beach from his apartment and didn’t feel like walking all the way back. They’d drive in one direction for hours and stop at little towns. They’d gotten lost and ended up in a hotel in the middle of nowhere overlooking the coast. It was run down, the carpet was green (he distinctly remembered that), and the only store to get any food from was a tiny shack by the water with miscellaneous snacks. He had his first peanut butter and honey sandwich on pumpernickel bread that night...and he hoped he’d never need to have it again. 

Something about it all was charming. 

There was no benchmark for how correctly he was going about the whole thing, but it was easy to love someone. For all intents and purposes they seemed to be doing a great job. They were silly and adventurous. They never fought. It felt a little weird sometimes, but then again this was his first time being married. It’s not like he was used to it. A little weird was to be expected.

Max had been born two years later. It seemed like the next step and Enna had made a point of letting him know that she’d dreamed of being a parent almost her entire life. Matt hadn’t felt too strongly about it one way or the other, but the pair of them had great jobs, and a cute rented house...so why not? He loved her and that was something she wanted.

And before the swift hand of judgement is dealt “why not?” felt like a good enough reason at the time. After all it was his first time ever considering the idea of being a father and quite frankly no one was ever very honest about how they came to decide on children anyway. There was always some whimsical, romantic, reasoning behind it that sounded more Disney movie than real life and Matthew Holt was practical. 

Some people had kids and sometimes the reason was; why not? 

The pink line in Enna’s pregnancy stick had stared up at him with exhilarating promise. This was wonderful. They’d done it. 

What next?

Matthew had read all of the books. He scoured every parenting forum. He poured over babycenter and the pregnancy app so he’d know where the little jellybean was in development. He held back hair when there was morning sickness. He bought all of the weird flavored lollipops that were supposed to stop his wife from vomiting up what little food she was managing to keep down. He started to remember to buy prenatal vitamins when he went food shopping. He made every trip to the gas station convenience store for her ice cream cravings. He started to know the pizza delivery guys on a first name basis. 

He did it. He did it all to perfection and by the book. The script that had been laid out for you when life started to get away from you to ensure a good ending was perfectly re-enacted. Just trust in these things and do this, do that, and everything will be just fine. This is how it’s supposed to go. 

Matthew held onto it like a life line because what else was he supposed to do? He’d never had a pregnant wife before. He’d always just assumed he’d be old and traveling the country in a school bus he turned into a tiny house. This was all uncharted territory.

Maxwell Levi Holt was born on Christmas. 

Matthew spent the majority of the time having his sides squeezed so tightly he thought his insides would come out of his mouth like a toothpaste tube while Enna twisted about on the yoga ball the hospital had provided for the labor. He didn’t mind. She had it a thousand times worse and if the wet spot against his shirt where her face had been planted had anything to say about it- he was pretty sure this was the worst thing she’d ever had to endure. He wanted to take the pain away somehow. He wanted it to be over quickly so that Enna could jump straight to the wonderful part she had been raving about since the blood test at the doctor’s confirmed what the pee-stick already let them know. 

They took classes, but once again he felt like he was swimming in uncharted waters.

He didn’t know how to help someone in labor other than to be there. 

He’d never done this before. 

When the hospital sent them home his chest felt tight. It was terrifying. Without the security of being right there at the hospital it felt like so many things could go wrong and they’d be his fault. The idea this baby he loved more than anything would have somehow suffered in any way because he didn’t know what to do next was paralyzing. So many things could go wrong. He’d been alone in the kitchen that night, having gone downstairs for a glass of water, and found himself sobbing into the tile.

He didn’t know what to do.

He’d never felt that way before. 

Enna was granted six weeks maternity leave. Matthew was granted two. 

They panicked that the time was too short, but that was what you got when you worked for a government agency. Enna set up Max for a spot at the Child Development Center. Matthew panicked about all of the horror stories he’d read. He panicked even more once he’d gone back to work and the other parents in his sections let him know how sick kids got. 

_”Oh yeah, hand foot and mouth is a real trip.”_  
_”My son got impetigo! Can you believe that? I swear some parents need to learn when to not just drop your sick kid off at daycare…”_  
_”Lilly ended up with ringworm on her face. It was crazy looking. They stick everything in their mouths. So, you know. If one of them is sick- they’re all sick.”_

They laughed about it in hindsight, but Matt felt a wave of nausea.

He needed to keep his baby safe.

That didn’t sound very safe at all.

He’d talked to Enna about it when he’d gotten home. She could see why he’d worry, but what could they do.

_”You get like this sometimes. You read too much and think too much.”_

Matthew had felt dismissed. It hurt. It had been the first time Enna had made him feel that way, but he’d shut it out and pushed it down.

He spent that night staring at the ceiling trying to figure out if he was really taking it too far or if he was getting the information he needed to make informed choices about his baby. 

The only reprieve had been when the alarm for the four hour feeding time went off and he set to warming up the breastmilk Enna had pumped earlier that day. 

There was nothing to think about as he slowly drifted about on the glide rocker with Maxwell tucked into the crook of his arm as he nursed a bottle. Tiny, chubby, fingers drifted over Matt’s and he cried- but this was soft and so very happy. 

He’d never cried like that before. 

Panic had become a constant in Matthew’s days at work. He didn’t know if his kid was alright. Was he eating enough? Were they paying attention to him when he cried? Were any of the kids sick that day?

He felt crazy. They all seemed like rational reason for him to be worried, but he could tell it was interfering with his job. He sobbed into the steering wheel on the way to work after dropping of Max. He panicked all day until he sped back to the CDC to pick Max up. There was a few hours where he felt like he could breath and then it was bedtime.

Then it was waking up with Maxwell’s cries over the monitor and heating up the playtex bottles in a cup of hot water. 

Matt felt so thin, like his brain never had a moment to just be. His chest _ached_ like it was going to crack open.

He didn’t know if this was normal as a parent.

He’d never been one before.

There was one day he’d left work early on a whim, picked up Maxwell from the CDC, and took him to the playground by the beach. He still liked to put things in his mouth, but by six months it was easy enough to just tell him no.

Matt just sat and watched his son toss sand about with the motor skills of a faulty robot. He laughed, breathed in fresh air, and played with his son.

His heart was so full.

It had never been that full before.

The next morning he called to set up an appointment with a therapist. Enna was critical, but he ignored it. This was important. There were plenty of things he had caved on beneath the weight of her judgement. This wasn’t one of them. He was missing the sweet beach moments when he was drowning in the anxiety. He needed tools if he was going to do this right- and he wanted to do it right. 

Eventually they decided that they were secure enough for Matthew to stay at home with Max. Enna had experienced the panic Matt had felt most of the time when Max had come home from the CDC with a high fever. It had been the first time in a long time he felt like she understood what was going on in his head. 

It just sucked that his son needed to have the flu for it to happen.

Cody has come along two years later. Matthew felt wore out from having to go through the newborn stage just once, but Enna insisted Max needed a built in best friend.

Matt distinctly remembered Katie had put him in a choke hold when they were younger and wasn’t sure if Enna was aware that sometimes they could be your built in arch-nemesis. 

Matthew Holt had followed every rule. He followed all of the advice in the “Making Marriage Work” books, in the marriage after kids books, in his therapy sessions, on Internet forums, from other couples and parents. If he just followed the script everything would be just fine-

Until he found himself sitting on his living room floor, playing legos with Cody, realizing that what he’d been working on for the last couple of years wasn’t love.

It was obligation.

It was perfectionism. 

It was unfair to Enna. 

The many conversations that followed led to where he currently stood; alone, in front of the television screen, with a six year old trying to scream himself into the next dimension and his three year old brother arguing his case like the best paid lawyer in the city. Unfortunately the only argument the lawyer had was:

“SWIME RANCHER! HE WANNA PLAY SWIME RANCHER DADDY!!”

“I know, bubba. But we need to leave for school at seven five zero,” he turned his attention to Max who was slumped down in the couch, “and that’s in ten minutes and Max you. Need. To. Eat. Or you’re going to get sick at school.” 

“I WILL EAT! AFTER SLIME RANCHER!”

Matt sighed, placing the controller on top shelf of the entertainment center, at the charging of two, tiny, howling human beings.

“Hey, listen, buddy. Let’s eat our food and when you get home from school you can play Slime Rancher right away. Okay?” Tired, amber eyes shifted away from the controller, and back to his son who rubbed his snot along the sleeve of his school shirt.

Matthew cringed, all too aware he would now be sending his kid to school with a snot streak on his arm, but not willing to fight more than one battle at a time that morning.

No answer from Max. Cody has been laid out on the floor, flat on his back with tears streaming down his face like a Ghibli film, glaring up at the ceiling. 

“Okay,” Max grumbled, silently moving to eat a silver dollar pancake off of his lightning McQueen plate. 

“.....okay….” Matt echoed, stepping around his second son that had already moved on from defending his brother, and started to play with his toy motorcycle. 

-

The rest of the morning routine went without a hitch. They walked down the street to Max’s school, exchanged their usual hugs and kisses, and Matthew and Cody headed back towards the house.

He had been strapping Cody into his car seat when Matt felt his cellphone ring in his pocket.

Enna:  
_How were they?_

:  
_Another battle over slime rancher, but we’re good now. Heading to food shopping. You want anything?”_

Enna:  
_Yeah can you grab me that Hawaii coffee._

:  
_Hawaii coffee?_

Enna:  
_yep! Over by the tea. It’s got like black trees and a sunset on it or something. It’s the only Hawaii coffee you’ll know it._

Matt frowned, trying to remember what the tea section of the isle looked like, but only managed to get a visual on where the macaroni and cheese was.

:  
_k_

He stuffed the phone back into his pocket and turned back to Cody who had been yanking on the tassels that hung off of his hat’s ear flaps. Matt laughed, caught off guard by the visual of his son’s head almost completely engulfed by the knitted winter hat, and buckled him the rest of the way in.

Cody has been on a K-pop kick. Which meant they had to listen to “The Hype Song” for thirty minutes straight. Which meant that “Shine” by Pentagon got really old, really fast, but it was still pretty amusing that his three year old made the correlation from Fortnight to the music video of his favorite song.

Kids were wild.

His babies were so smart.

He caught a glimpse of the stupid smile on his face when he looked in the rear view mirror at Cody- who had been pumping his fist and swinging his legs wildly in his car seat along with the song.

-

“And a macaroni! And a macarooooni! And another macarooooniiii!”

Matt tried his best not to take Cody’s insistent observation that they were surrounded by macaronis, but not coffee from Hawaii, too personally. Besides, it was pretty smart of him to understand that even macaroni shaped like scooby doo and not the noodles he was used to were still macaroni.

“....okay….seriously why is it all just tea….?” He grumbled to himself, now bent at the waist so he could get a really good look at all of the labels Incase he was just skimming over what he needed on accident.

“....because this is the tea section?” A light laugh replied behind him.

Matthew snapped straight up, a mix of flustered and scared, and a little bit annoyed if he was one hundred percent honest. That is until he came face to face with who the laugh belonged to.

“Uh-“ He sputtered dumbly, still caught up in the warm, honey, brown of the eyes looking back at him.

“A MACAROOOOOONIIIIIII!!!!!!!” Cody squealed from the opposite side of the isle.

“Uh- I- COFFEE.” Matt concluded, jutting his thumb over his shoulder.

The man looking back at him just smiled. It was amused and soft in a way that didn’t seem to fit with how gargantuan the rest of the guy was. Not that Matthew had noticed- except he did notice. Jesus, did this guy bench press women in his spare time!? His chest was thicker than a freaking tree trunk! How was there even room for all three of them in that isle!? 

“Hm, coffee…” the man hummed, leaning back to get a look at the isle signs overhead.

Matt leaned to the side, managing to gently take a hold of Cody’s hand, and bring him back to his side. The three year old just set to fumbling with the lanyard hanging from the man’s pocket instead, but Matt had been too caught up in the way the guy brushed the shock of white hair in his bangs away from his face to register it.

“Next isle.” The man chirped, pointing to the sign hanging above the isle at Matthew’s back.

“....uh….thanks….”

“No problem,” and with that his supermarket guide had turned to leave only to pause when the sound of his keys hitting the linoleum tile below echoed through the isle.

Matt blinked and slowly looked down to find Cody giggling away as he bounced the keys about on the lanyard he’d snagged.

Oh no.

“Oh, dude. I’m so sorry!” He bent down now, carefully trying to free the lanyard from sticky three-year-old fingers, “I didn’t realize he g- holy cow that’s a lot of keys!”

Matt couldn’t help but laugh as he finally got his hands on the lanyard and held it out for the man to take.

“I work construction. So, I’ve got the keys for all the sites and it...it weighs a ton,” he laughed, stuffing them back into the large pocket of his carpenter jeans.

“Ah, so you don’t work here. You just like picking on people who can’t find the coffee, huh?”

The man laughed and it was the most genuine sound Matt had heard in a long while. He was starting to wonder if maybe he just spent too much time around PTA moms and the parents at Max and Cody’s soccer practice. 

He liked to imagine they were all hiding some deep dark secrets. It made him feel better in a weird way. Being surrounded by a bunch of yuppy, upper class, families from the nice town over always made him feel like an outsider. He was positive a few of them were probably into some weird shit. 

“No, no! That wasn’t it at all! I recognized you from our walk to school! I was just trying to help!”

“And tease me!” Matt insisted with a smile.

“Aaaaand tease you,” the man grinned, reluctantly giving into the accusation.

“Hold on, wait. The walk to school?”

“Yeah, me and my daughter walk from the opposite side. Every once in a while we end up behind you guys on the sidewalk into school.”

Matt bit his tongue, trying very, very hard not to make a joke about how the guy recognized him from behind. 

“O-oh! Okay! Yeah, you...look kinda familiar?”

“It’s fine if I don’t,” his voice carried a lighthearted amusement with it, “you don’t have to lie. I recognized the pants more than anything.”

Matt blinked. Pants? What was so remarkable about his p-

Oh god.

He was still wearing his house pants. 

More often than not Matt would wear his house pants around when they were at home. They were comfy and he didn’t care too much if they got paint or glue stick on them when he was doing arts and crafts with Cody while Max was at school. He’d swap them out for jeans or sweats for the walk to school and then change back once they made it inside- except for today. Today he spent the majority of his morning flustered over the Slime Rancher debacle and must have walked to school in his navy blue, zebra print, Zubaz pants.

And he wanted to die. 

Cody had been swinging back and forth, using the grip his dad had on his arm as an anchor as he shifted back and forth out of boredom. Sending the loose legs of his pants into a frenzy with the movement.

“......that’s…..embarrassing….” He mumbled quietly.

“I think they’re cool,” when Matt looked up the guy was just smiling, there wasn’t any judgement in his eyes surprisingly enough, “my name’s Shiro by the way.”

“Matt and this is Cody,” he nodded his head down to the boy currently toeing at a Shiro’s construction boot and revealing in the way it left lighter colored scuff marks, before smoothing them over again. 

“Nice to meet you, Matt,” Shiro patted Cody in the head with a hand that looked like it had no business being as gentle as it was,”and you too Cody! I gotta get going, but maybe I’ll see you guys on Monday?”

“Yeah, maybe! I’ll keep an eye out this time!”

Shiro smiled and turned to make his way back down the opposite end of the aisle, before calling over his shoulder;

“Good luck with your coffee!”


	2. Daddy Long Legs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A fall morning is too cold for comfort. The boys make a new friend. Matthew runs into Shiro a second time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoop! \o/ Chapter two! Let me know what you guys think! I’m still kinda feeling this thing out, haha!

October was too cold already.

There had been a week of what had felt like perfect fall weather in between the sweltering heat of summer and the current frozen tundra that had fallen over their little coastal town.

One!

Matthew had spent half of the week daydreaming about all of the fall memories he had as a kid and the other half googling places to take Cody and Maxwell to make some of their own. The plan had been to leave early Saturday morning and head over to Sunny Side Up Farm, a little place further west, because they had the most positive reviews for kid activities. 

The only problem was that as Matt opened the front door Friday morning, with the three of them clad in knitted sweaters (because...fall...right?), he’d been smacked by the biting chill of what felt like mid-November air.

“We’re gonna need jackets, guys…” he sighed, trying to recall which closet-maid box in the basement had been their winter clothes box.

“But why, dad!?” Max groaned, trying to squeeze his way through his father’s legs like he was the six year old, male, version of Kitty Pryde.

Matt wavered on his feet, noting that his offspring was getting pretty strong a little too fast, and he’d more than likely be given a run for his money in a few years.

Better start hitting the gym.

“Because it’s freezing outside,” he answered calmly, trying to close the front door before the heat kicked on, but finding two fuzzy little heads trying rush their way through the screen door like over excited dogs, “wha- guys slow down. Slow down a sec.”

“But it’s not cold! I’m not cold!”

Cody didn’t seem to have anything to say about the weather, but he did find it pretty amusing that his breath was leaving fog marks on the glass of the screen door. Matt smiled to himself. He always found a lot of joy watching them learn about the world around them. It reminded him of how amazing science really was when you looked at it from a fresh perspective. The wonder on his kids faces at things he often took forgranted was one of th-

…

And now he was just smearing his tongue across the glass in an attempt to recreate the fog marks.

“B-buddy, don’t lick the glass that’s…that’s kind weird…” he laughed, catching a glimpse of a horrified parent passing on the sidewalk in front of their house on the way to school.

Matt smiled and waved, finding a sick sort of joy in the judgement on their face. Like they were so perfect and their kids had never licked a window in their entire life? Okay Perfect Family™. He had dealt with the infant years twice now and knew they were either very good at compartmentalizing or lying to themselves if their kid hadn’t shoved a number of questionable household items into their mouth by the time they hit two. 

“Here, hold up,” he conceded, herding his children back from the door with a wide, gentle, sweep of his arm, “want to to go in the basement with me!?” 

The tone in his voice had hit a pitch that was usually only reserved for desparate child convincing measures. They had to feel like going into the basement for coats instead of barreling out into the frozen wasteland that was their front yard was way cooler than it actually was.

Oh boy, was the basement just REALLY SUPER COOL! 

“YEAH!!” Cody squealed taking the bait without a hitch and effectively coaxing his older brother onto the deceit train. 

“YEAH!!” Matt echoed, throwing a fist pump up and merrily making his way through the kitchen with as much false gusto as he could possibly conjure up about the idea of the basement. 

“BASEMENT!!!” Maxwell shouted from the back of the train.

“Oooh, I bet we’ll find some really cool stuff down here!” He called over his shoulder, taking Cody’s hand, and keeping an eye on Max as they started down the stairs.

He didn’t like lying to his kids. He figured the more he did it the more they’d wise up and assume he wouldn’t tell them the truth when it mattered. That meant he needed to find something for them to “discover” on their little adventure that would warrant at least a fraction of the excitement he’d conjured up. 

Maybe the Chanukah box had something in it…

When they all made it safely to the ground floor Matt quickly set to pulling off the lids to the closet-maid boxes that lined the back wall. 

He really needed to clean down here.

The first box had been Enna’s clothes, the second had been baby clothes he should have gotten rid of a while ago, the third box revealed the fuzzy hood of Maxwells winter coat. Cody’s has been just below that and Matt was sure to snag his out as well.

Maxwell and Cody has started whooping and giggling behind him which was both a cute and terrifying sound because it had meant they’d gotten into something. In the basement he couldn’t imagine it being anything safe, but when he turned around he found both of his sons crouched down and gleefully prodding a Daddy Long Legs across the floor.

He felt something in his chest swell with a warmth he knew well by now.

...they could be late to school...what did it matter in the big scheme of things…

“Whatcha got?” He asked quietly, tucking the coats against his chest, and hunkering down beside them.

“A SPIDER!” Maxwell shouted because he was still working on that inside voice.

Cody let out an ear piercing squeal of joy as the spider made a quick sprint forward in hopes of getting away from tiny fingers. 

“That’s a Daddy Long Legs,” He explained, a soft smile stretching across his lips and Maxwell and Cody hopped after the poor little guy. 

“He issa d- Issa lone- a lone- a lone-“

“A Daddy Long Legs, Cody.” Matt offered gently.

Language was pretty wild too. How crazy that at some point they were all just three year olds tripping over words they didn’t even understand? There were people out there playing around with DNA that had been drooling and rolling on the floor not too long ago.

“A Daddy. Long legs. SPIIIIDERRRRR!!” The youngest Holt declared triumphantly before chasing after his unsuspecting victim. 

Matthew laughed quietly to himself, pushing off of his knees in order to stand up fully, and leaned against the banister. He let them play for a few minutes until the second alarm on his phone went off. The coats were tucked beneath his armpit and his free hand slid into the pocket of his sweatpants to retrieve his phone.

 _SERIOUSLY SCHOOL TIME_

Starred up at him from the screen still sporting Cody’s finger smudges when he watched his YouTube videos on their last trip to the doctors. 

“Alright guys, we gotta go. Say goodbye to Daddy Long Legs!”

The two boys sprung to their feet, waving their hands frantically at the terrified spider, with a synchronized shout of; “BYEEEE DADDY LONG LEGS!!!”

-

As Matt locked the front door behind them he could see a handful of parents and children scampering down the sidewalk towards the school bundled up in puffy winter jackets. 

At least he wouldn’t be the only parent late because of the unforgiving weather. 

Maxwell and Cody jumped about on the brick walkway, singing their own versions of their “Daddy Long Legs Spider” song that sounded like they’d just replaced the words of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. 

He laughed to himself, scooping up warm, tiny, hands in his own, and heading towards the school. A few kids ran past them in the grass. Their oversized backpacks flopping from side to side in a jerky motion. A family stepped around them offering a quiet good morning. 

Matt waved herding his sons to the side of the concrete to give the family enough room to pass and when he looked back ahead he could see a familiar face shuffling down the sidewalk ahead of them.

“Hey!” He called, nodding his head instead of releasing Maxwell’s hand.

Honey Brown lifted from the gray of the sidewalk and glanced about as if trying to gauge if the “Hey” was for him or if it was just some of the typical noise that flooded the front parking lot of the school in the morning.

“YEAH, YOU!” Matt persisted, grinning wide when Shiro’s gaze finally met his.

“Hey! Matt! Cody!” He smiled, wiggling the hand the little girl beside him had claimed with both arms in an attempt to get her attention.

She pouted, burying he face further into the steel gray of his Carhartt jacket. 

“This is Kiku! We just say Ki! This is my daughter!” Shiro called from across the street.

Matt had opened his mouth to at least offer the shy girl a hello, but Maxwell had jumped head first into the conversation being the social butterfly of their little bunch.

“MY NAME IS MAXWELL! AND THIS IS CODY! HE IS MY BROTHER! THIS IS MY DAD! THAT’S HIS TITLE. THAT’S WHAT WE CALL HIM, BUT HIS REAL NAME IS MATTHEW HOLT! MY LAST NAME IS HOLT! I JUST TURNED SIX AND MY BROTHER IS THREE AND MY DADDY IS VERY OLD!”

Matt choked on his own spit, trying his best to hold back the ferocious fit of laughter pushing at the back of his lips and the candid explanation coming from his son. They were all things Matt had explained or said to him before, but there was something endlessly hilarious about a six year old shouting it in the streets. Shiro on the other hand hadn’t held back the loud bark of a laugh that had sent his chin tilting towards the sky and his free hand encircling his stomach. 

“HI MAX!” Shiro shouted back as loudly as the six year old had, “THIS IS KI! SHE IS FIVE YEARS OLD AND DOESN’T WANT TO GO TO SCHOOL TODAY! SHE IS BEING GRUMPY, BUT SHE SAYS HELLO!” 

“I COOOOOOODDDDDDDDDYYYYYYY!!!!!” screamed his youngest son.

Must have felt left out.

By then Matthew had been doubled over, trying to wipe the tears of laughter out of the corners of her eyes on the crook of his elbow. Maxwell and Cody has started a sprint (a brisk walk by adult standards) towards this new friend of theirs- pulling Matt along like a sled team. He leaned back, trying to slow their motions, but mostly just needed up in an awkward Frankenstein walk.

They waited at the corner for Shiro and Kiku to cross once the crossing guard had halted the traffic coming in and out of the school parking lot. Immediately Maxwell jumped into Kiku’s space, complimenting her unicorn sequin backpack, before moving on to explain he had a NASA backpack. Space was really cool. His Dad liked the birds in the Star Wars movie and he was going to become an astronaut so he could get his dad a space bird.

Matt’s heart melted and Shiro exchanged a look with him that let him know he wasn’t the only one having trouble keeping his insides solid after that sweet sentiment. Cody spoke over his brother to inform everyone he had a Captain America backpack. (Something he insisted on wearing to and from getting Maxwell.) 

“Running late?” Matthew asked as the two of them bustled down the sidewalk with their families.

“Ugh,” Shiro sighed, letting go of Kiku’s hand so she could walk next to Maxwell in the grass,”it was freezing this morning. We couldn’t find Ki’s jacket from last year that she wanted to wear which turned into-“

“World War Three?”

Shiro nodded, his eyes widening just enough to let a fellow parent know just how right their guess head been.

“We had the same problem, but I’m always late...so this is pretty normal for us,” Matt laughed, rubbing the back of his neck with the hand Maxwell had vacated in favor of walking in the grass. 

“Ah, I was looking for you this week, but I figured we just missed you guys.”

Matthew felt something stirring in his chest. It was warm, but frantic like he wanted to apologize, but also didn’t feel like spotting him was worth the effort of a week worth of looking. There was something else, but he stuffed it down in the cellar where he kept most things. 

“O-oh! Haha, no uh…no you didn’t miss us. Technically we just missed you guys because I’m still trying to figure out the timing on this!” 

Shiro nodded, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jacket with an easy smile. 

As they all managed to come to a stop at the front door of the school Maxwell set to hugging his little brother and placing a gentle kiss on his forehead. He then shifted to wrap his arms around Matthew’s legs and lifted his head for his dad to place a kiss on his forehead as well, before he smushed his tiny face into Matt’s cheek for his own kiss goodbye. He could hear a coo from Shiro and his chest swelled with a bit of pride. 

For all of the things Matt was pretty sure he’d been screwing up he knew his babies were full of so much love. He’d always been very adamant about letting them know how much he loved them and in the moments when the two boys weren’t trying to murder each other they were cuddling on the couch and always made sure to give hugs and kisses goodbye. 

Matt hoped that would never change. 

The unknown of the future ached in his chest.

“See you later, sweet baby,” he spoke softly and Maxwell waved before running for the door, dragging Kiku with him by the hand, “have fun at school!”

“Have a good day, baby girl! See you after school!” Shiro called after his daughter that seemed to leave her morning troubles behind as she scampered into the main hall of the school building with Maxwell.

The two fathers stood side by side for a moment. Shiro on his own and Matthew with Cody’s hand in his.

“Rough morning?” Matthew ventured, noticing the sad look in Shiro’s eyes as he watched their kids turn the corner for Kindergarten.

“...I just hate making her sad…” he replied quietly, taking a moment to smile down at Cody who had found the lanyard for Shiro’s work keys again,”...I just have no idea where I put her favorite jacket- and I didn’t want her to start her day off late and flustered- but then she got frustrated and I got frustrated- and...I dunno…”

The taller man turned, waiting patiently for Cody to follow after him where he held fast to Shiro’s makeshift leash. Matthew followed after, pushing his free hand into the sleeve of his jacket in hopes of saving it from the cold.

He should get the babies gloves before it got much colder.

“I’m just glad we ran into you guys. She seemed like she was in a better mood…”

“Definitely! And don’t stress. We all have mornings like that. I get it. And I don’t think she’s going to need therapy over that one morning she didn’t have her favorite jacket. Everyone’s just doing their best, man.” 

“...yeah…” Shiro agreed quietly with a smile.

They made it to the corner where they’d met up and Shiro gently pried Cody’s fingers away from the lanyard with an easy chuckle.

“We gotta get you some keys of your own, huh?”

“OH! Yes.” Cody agreed with a violent nod.

Matt laughed and Shiro straightened up, returning his hands to his pockets now that he was free from tiny captor.

“See you guys next time?”

“Yeah,” Matt nodded,”next time for sure.”


End file.
